TheKaiser33 said:

The Squad spends 1 MP to leave the trench. This may already trigger op fire. It then spends another 1 MP to enter the adjacent hex and yet another MP to enter the trench in that hex for a total of 3 MP. So I guess it's option 3 (-;. A unit in a clear/ rubble hex inside a trench would indeed get a total of 4+1 = 5 cover dice. Note that as long as it's not (yet) inside the trench it only has 1 cover.

Please let me know the result of your game and what you thought of the scenario!

Thanks for playing it!

TheKaiser33 said:

Just to expand on this a little: The AT gun is treated as a vehicle as per standard game rules and normally speaking vehicles (including equipment-which should be a unit type of its own if you ask me-) are not allowed to enter building terrain. In this scenario they are. Also, normally speaking concussive fire can only be used against squads inside buildings and pillboxes. However, as we've seen, these units normally can't enter buildings. I feel that a building that comes crumbling down might certainly damage such a gun and especially its crew, though in TOI that would be a squad also inside the building. Therefore I feel it's justifiable to use the concussive firepower bonus against an AT gun inside a building hex.

'While developing the scenario I wanted tanks to both useful and vulnerable in this urban setting. The way I've mostly tried to accomplish this was by allowing them to retain their concussive firepower against units inside buildings, but disallowing it against ruins. At the same time I've greatly reduced their mobility by the rubble special rule (clear and clear road terrain are 2 MPs for vehicles) and while ruins are THE best place for a defensive position for a vehicle to be in (at least 4 cover + any extra cover granted by added entrenchments, i.e. fortified ruins apart from the vehicle's armor), there's a chance it will be immobilized for a round which might allow enemy units to catch it in the open (rubble doesn't give extra cover to vehicles). I feel this way the tanks are both useful and vulnerable at the same time and that was the idea.

 We are hoping to get together sometime this weekend to finish the scenario.  We're on about Round 7 of 12 I believe.  I was misunderstanding how Trenches worked, thank you for the clarification. So basically, it sounds like "Trenches" are more glorified "Entrenchments".  In that they are not trench systems spanning multiple hexes, but rather, an isolated single trench contained within a single hex.  They offer better cover than an entrenchment, but otherwise they sound like they have the same characteristics as far as entering / leaving, etc.

TheKaiser33 said:

Yes, that's also how I see it. Of course it could be a scenario specific rule sometime that they are to be considered connected.

TheKaiser33 said:

Have you managed to finish the scenario?

Kingtiger said:

No, we haven't finished it yet.  We got another 2 rounds in on Sunday.  Round 8 was swinging in the Germans favor.  A bombing run knocked out a couple of Russian squads holed up in a Balka and a couple of squads led a successful assault into the factory by the balkas.  Round 9, however, the Russians were able to counterattack across the line and knock out some German squads. Then they bought 3 reinforcement squads with reinforcement cards and rolled for 3 more squads.  We will start round 10 next time we get together.  It's really not looking good for the Germans though.  They only control 3 hexes along the border and just lost a lot of the squads that were slated to pick up hexes over there.  The Russians have lost of lot of men and are being compressed more and more towards their reinforcement point, but I think they have inflicted enough casualties against the German squads that it is about to the point where the Germans won't be able to take enough hexes to overcome their Victory Point lead.

TheKaiser33 said:

OK, thanks for the update!

It's indeed a bit risky to amass a lot of squads in a balka hex (-;. Airstrikes and/or artillery bombardments can be quite devastating in a hex with no cover.

I see the germans didn't elect to use the "Luftwaffe over the Volga" option to reduce the number of reinforcing Russian troops a little?

Of course it's possible the scenario results in a Russian "win". Historically that was of course also the result.

Note that the German VP's for the baseline hexes are not calculated until the end of the game, but hexes can be claimed at the end of each round. You're right that the Russians can reconquer them.

Hope you're enjoying the scenario! Usually the germans can claim a few more VP baseline hexes in the last round. They still receive a number of reinforcements on round 9 (?) as well, f I'm not mistaken…

Kingtiger said:

Yes, I enjoyed blowing up the Russians huddled in the Balka.  They were safe from tank fire, but the bombing run and zero cover played well to my favor.  I have been using the "Luftwaffe over the Volga" but that hasn't reduced the number of Russian troops by much.  I normally only got a couple of hits against those troops.  And I don't think I can use that attack against purchased reinforcements, can I?  My friend has rolled quite a few 3 squad reinforcements on many turns as well so it has been a steady stream of Russian bodies coming in to plug the gaps.

The left factory complex fell to the Germans by the second turn.  I was poised to assault in and conquer the center factory, but he tossed down the instant mines and then super-fortified some hexes in that complex with his engineer squad as well.  Trying to overcome the 9 cover dice after my flamethrower unit was assaulted by some Russian cannon fodder has been difficult.  The center factory has become a meat grinder that slowed me down enough to probably tip the victory in the Russians favor.  He'd placed enough high value units in there such as AT gun and mg squad that it wouldn't have been too good to try and bypass it.

The 6 reinforcement infantry squads were just placed at the end of round 8, however, I'm not sure how much good they'll do with the Russian reinforcements on that back line.  It will take them 2 - 3 rounds just to run over to the back line and that's without any opposition.

It has been a fun scenario so far.

TheKaiser33 said:

You ARE allowed to use the Luftwaffe over the Volga option against rolled AND purcahsed reinforcements (abiding by the restrictions given)!

Kingtiger said:

Doh!  That could've helped out some of the other rounds.

 We were able to finish the game on Saturday.  The final tally was Germany 50 Victory Points and Russia 87 VP.

The last couple of rounds the Russians were able to inflict quite a few infantry casualties to rack up the final points they needed to seal the deal.

I will post an analysis when I have a little more time.

TheKaiser33 said:

OK. Thanks. That'd certainly be interesting to read. It's a bigger VP point difference than in any of my playtests and those done by Klausfritsch, but as you said, perhaps not using the Luftwaffe over the Volga option when you were entitled to do so may have had something to do with that. What I like about this scenario, if I may say so myself, is that there are many options: "OK, I lost, but what if I'd done this, what if I hadn't done that, what if I'd done this a bit sooner, what if I hadn't let my opponent do this…". In other words, I tried to design a scenario with a high replay value. I hope I've accomplished that and more than anything I hope you had fun!

It's also important to not let the Russians score VPs too easily by unnecessarily exposing your German forces to suffering casualties. For example, assaulting with a flamethrower and the 2 extra dice granted by the operations card "Merciless assault" will let you win many assaults, especially if you also add two adjacent squads. however, you will most likely also suffer some casualties yourself which will lead to the Russians scoring immediate VPs. So what you want to do as the German player is making those assaults when you've either already weakened the enemy squad(s) to say two max. two figures and/or disrupting them before assaulting which would mean they normally can't defend, but with the use of the desperate defenders op card can only defend at half strength (that's my interpretation of the desperate defenders card. Not sure if it's intended to work like that. Normally speaking the rules say that disrupted squads can't defend against assaults and the OP card reads that pinned and disrupted squads can still attack at half firepower. The question is whether defending against an assault qualifies as an "attack", but I play that it does). 

 Ok, the factory on the left hand side of the German deployment zone I'll call Factory 1, the one in the middle Factory 2, and the one on the right (by the balkas) Factory 3.

The Russians deployed their tank traps to the right of Factory 2 to pinch off the open space between the ruin hexes and slow the German tanks down.  They deployed their machine gun in the most right-hand hex of Factory 2 with one of the AT guns deployed on the left-hand side of that same factory. They also deployed an AT gun in the ruins of Factory 3 covering the hexes leading up to the MG so that if they Germans decided to push past the tank obstacles they'd come under fire from the AT gun.  This gun was concealed.  The razor wire was deployed along the road in front of Factory 2 and in front of the MG squad in Factory 2.

In the opening moves the Germans used several infantry squads supported by concussive firepower of 3 tanks to blast the 3 Russian squads defending Factory 1 into oblivion and quickly capture Factory 1.  The AT gun in Factory 2 was able to take advantage of its concussive FP, though, and knock out one of those attacking squads later.

In the center, the German tank behind the tank trap fired at the Russian MG to no effect.  The Russian Engineer squad immediately fortified the MG hex with sandbags.  They continued to do this on each subsequent turn until the max of 3 was reached.  Visibility to the MG hex limited the amount of units that could attack that hex from the German side.  The Germans began concentrating attacks against the Engineers once they realized what the engineers were up to.  They knocked the squad down to 1 guy and a triple block prevented another attack from destroying them.  The engineers then went concealed.  Meanwhile, the Germans had moved several squads into the razor wire in the road.  The Russians then decided to use their Instant Mine special action to deploy instant mines into 2 of Factory 2's hexes and 2 of the open hexes on the left hand side of that factory.  Thus, halting the German advance.  The German engineer squad was in Factory 1.  The Germans sent a suicide squad into one of the mined rooms in the Factory which promptly failed its roll and detonated the mines.  A bad roll saw that squad wiped out.  Other German squads piled into the now cleared hex, including the Flamethrower unit.  Meanwhile, the Russian, concealed Engineer squad had left the MG hex and moved into the AT hex in Factory 2 and begun super fortifying that hex.

The flamethrower squad supported by 2 fatigued German squads assaulted the center of Factory 2 and wiped out 2 Russian squads that were there.  Unfortunately, the Russians counterassaulted with some of the reinforcements that they had rolled and destroyed the flamethrower unit.  Factory 2 became a meat grinder.  The Germans fed in several squads and the Russians continued to feed men in as well.  The Russians had the advantage of two nine defense dice super hexes thanks to their engineer squad and without the Flamethrower unit, the Germans were sorely pressed to be able to capture the building.  Most hits rolled against units in those hexes promptly being blocked by the Russian cover dice. 

The Germans sent some squads around Factory 1 to make it to the Volga and begin picking up hexes over there, but then the Russians shifted their t34 to that line and managed to knock out several squads.  The PZ3's having a hard time getting over to deal with the t34 which was tucked behind the house in front of the Balka on the Volga.  The AT gun also kept the Panzer's busy, minor damaging 2 of them, thus making them only able to move 1 hex and still be able to fire.

Several squads were able to successfully assault Fatory 3 in the middle of the game after the first wave of reinforcemetns, however, this Factory was closest to the Russian reinforcement point so the Russians promptly counter-assaulted and recaptured it.  

The Russians were able to bog the Germans down in trying to root them out of well-defended / covered hexes.  The Russians typically lost several squad bases per turn, however, since they had a steady stream of reinforcements entering the board each turn, they could normally replace their losses. And every casualty they caused to the Germans they added Victory Points.

I did use the Luftwaffe over the Volga, however, this normally only knocked out 1 squad base or so.  By the middle of the game, the Russians were rolling on average about 2 squad bases of infantry for special reinforcements and would purchase another 1 or 2 squad bases from cards. The largest mistake on the Germans part was moving the flamethrower squad forward too aggressively.  I was trying to get them set up to assault the op fire MG squad on their next turn, however, when the Russians knocked them out it cut off most chance of capturing Factory 2.  Trying to assault a hex defended by 2 or 3 full Russian infantry squads with 9 cover dice with only 3 German infantry squads was suicidal and would only serve to hand the Russians more VP's.  Every time the Russian squads were reduced in strenght to manageable numbers in Factory 2, reinforcements would take their place.

Two bombing run cards and some good assaults did knock out some Russian mortars and a pile of infantry in the middle of the game, but then the next turn my friend rolled 3 squad bases and bought 3 more to replace all units that were lost.

If I had to do it all over again, I would use the flamethrower squad better and send all of the tanks rushing for the Russian reinforcement hexes to cut off their reinforcements.

It was a fun scenario over all.

TheKaiser33 said:

Great after action report!

Thanks for playing and glad you enjoyed it!

It's also important to note that Russian reinforcements MUST enetr on the 1 command point marker on the Russain baseline or in the adjacent Balka hex. This means that if the Germans decide to concentrate their attack on the other flank that the Russians can't as easily dig in and must first move to the other side of the board.

Kingtiger said:

Doh.  We read the reinforcement rules for the Russians about the adjacent hex and also figured that that meant they'd be able to deploy units directly into the house next to the Victory Point marker, not just the balka hex.  This made it harder for me to send units down the long balka in the early turns.  My squad and half track got knocked out by reinforcements in that house.